At our meeting on 1st May, John Hafseth announced that five members of the club had attended the Regional Assembly – an excellent turn-out. Also that one of the five, Peter Woodhead, was a speaker on the subject of Global Grants. Peter said it appeared to go well and he was gratified afterwards by the relevant District Officer coming up and privately acknowledging the difficulties that are sometimes encountered in overseas donations.

After the meal we had a short talk from Lloyd Davies, a friend of member Chris Walbank, who told us about HELP – the Harehills English Language Project, which runs classes in two local churches (including St. Aiden’s) to help those of foreign origin – students, refuges, immigrants to improve their English. It is a thriving charitable organisation run by trustees who are looking to recruit more with different skills to the present, predominately teachers or clerics. He offered to chat to anyone interested.

Immediate Past President Pran then told us about the Stroke Awareness Day he had just organised. On Saturday 28th April two members of the Club, both retired doctors, Pran Bhattacharyya and Adrian Simmons aided by a team of stewards, donated their time and skill to offering free blood pressure tests to golf club members (and it must be said, those helping). Between 11am and 1.30pm, 43 checks were done and there were 17 whose results required them being referred to their own doctors. This was quite a high percentage and no doubt quite a few of the 17 were surprised, thinking they were perfectly fit and healthy. But it shows the value of this initiative – action can be taken to prevent strokes.

Then we were entertained by the very talented “Devonshire Hall Students Jazz Group” (they are looking for a catchy title…so suggestions welcomed!). Three male musicians (drums, guitar and piano) and two female vocalists presented a selection of well-known standards with less familiar (to me anyway) pieces. It was a lovely way to end the meal – as Adrian Simmons acknowledged in his vote of thanks, it was so refreshing to see young people adopting this style, which seems generally to be the preserve of those of retirement age!

AL & PB

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